Project Coordinator: Miles Gordon
Miles founded The Gardens Project of NCO in 2007 with the goal of rapidly expanding access to food and community food production for those lacking access in our community. Miles had worked as an organic melon farmer, bilingual high school and college teacher, and volunteer community organizer until 2007. At that time, our community and nation were coming to realize the great problems being unleashed by our commodity based, industrial food system. The time was right to realize his goal and the ideal community match was found with Patty Bruder, Director of NCO Community Action, that had been doing pioneering work in food access for the past several years. Patty and Miles mutually adopted each other and The Gardens Project of NCO was born.
Nutrition Basics Program Coordinator: Tarney Sheldon
Tarney is a credentialed K-8th grade teacher. She coordinates the Nutrition Basics program as a member of NCO's Community Action team. Tarney connects with family resource centers and agencies across Mendocino County to support their nutrition education efforts. She develops and presents classroom nutrition lessons that connect families to the food grown in local school, community, and backyard gardens.
Cassie Dillman
Cassie is from Sherman, Texas and graduated from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fl in 2008 with a degree in Environmental Studies. Cassie has been working with The Gardens Project since 2009 as the Hunger Prevention Coordinator, focusing on garden development, nutrition education, fundraising, and farmers market promotion. She loves succulents, iced tea, and knitting (she might make you something if you ask nicely). She is loving Ukiah.
Lucy Neely
Lucy is from the Bay Area. She spent her college years studying economics in seasonal Maine, and after a few long winters had a bad itch to get back to the West Coast, the scratching of which plopped her down in Ukiah with the Gardens Project. While not gardening, Lucy likes to ride bicycles, have adventures, dance, read, dehydrate pears, and try her durndest to cultivate goodness.
Susan Lightfoot
Born and raised in the grassroots of Louisiana, Susan Lightfoot first dug her hands into the earth as a young child at Our Father's Garden, a church farm that provides fresh food for the hungry in Baton Rouge. Her adventures in service and solidarity eventually led to Mendocino County where she co-founded the Noyo Food Forest, one of The Gardens Project’s key partners on the Mendocino Coast. An avid surfer and dancer, Susan’s true passion is collaborating with all kinds of people and she’s happily sinking her teeth into her new position as the Farm2Fork Coordinator at NCO.
